I know the cool thing to do these days is be a Collins hater, but let’s not forget how good of a quarterback he was in his career. He finishes his career 11th on the all-time list in passing yard with 40,441 and 29th with 206 TDs. Also this note from Jason LaCanfora of NFL.com:
Last note on Kerry Collins, I know the accuracy and INTs a big issue, but from 95-2010 only Favre and Manning had more yards and completions.
With all of that being said, this is not a huge blow to the 2011 version of the Tennessee Titans. Collins at best was going to keep the seat warm for Jake Locker for the first half of the season, and I am not sure that the record would be that much better with Collins at the helm than it will be with whoever it is now. He would have been serviceable but could we really expect much more than the 2-11 he put up the last two years in games he started?
The bottom line here is that this team isn’t going to the playoffs in 2011 unless Locker dazzles in camp, wins the job, and has Sam Bradford type success. Collins/Matt Hasselbeck/Donovan McNabb need to be on a team with a dominant defense to make a playoff run. I dare say the ’11 version of the Titans D will be better than the ’10 version, but I don’t see it being the type of defense that carries a team to playoff level success.